Senator John Kerry says much of world conflict fueled by clash of modernity with tribalism

[Mass]

Kerry spoke at Umass Lowell this week. My son, a senior at UMass Amherst, is officially jealous. They get Ted Koppel (sp) as their commencement speaker (though he has a chance to listen to RFK Jr if he wants). Anyway, it seems to be interesting.


http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2012/04/senator-john-kerry-says-much-world-conflict-fueled-clash-modernity-with-tribalism/bpKtMv7ZtMHHQWWqUrn8KJ/index.html

Senator John Kerry says much of world conflict fueled by clash of modernity with tribalism

...

LOWELL - Senator John Kerry, a possible secretary of state should President Obama win reelection, said today that much of the conflict around the globe stems from the clash between increasingly technological parts of the world and cultural tribalism embedded in largely uneducated and jobless populations.

The Massachusetts Democrat said that while he’s proud of the values and charitable works of the United States and other developed countries, they need to recognize that many populations cannot digest their societal norms as quickly as outsiders might like.

...
“Our way of doing things is really very abrupt and disruptive to many of those patterns, and we don’t always see how much it is disruptive and confrontational and, therefore, can’t always understand why somebody can’t see how you could make a quick decision to do something differently, because we see it in their interests, but they don’t necessarily see it as easily and quickly as in their interest,” said Kerry, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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Kerry urged the students to study psychology, comparative religion, and cultures to get a better understanding of others’ perspectives.

“In my judgment, peace is going to require us to help these countries over this hurdle with the confrontation with modernity, allow some of them to move at their own pace – not necessarily our pace – and help them to build institutional capacity to allow them to be able to embrace modernity without a sense of fear,” the senator said.

Instead of military deployments, he added, “we need to be deploying far more diplomats and far more doctors and far more social structure today, in many ways, and communicating more effectively.”
...

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/local/ci_20396500/sen-kerry-speaks-about-domestic-issues-class-at

Sen. Kerry speaks about domestic issues with class at UMass Lowell
By Chris Camire, [email protected]
Posted: 04/14/2012 06:32:38 AM EDT


LOWELL -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry was halfway through his guest lecture at UMass Lowell Friday when an important call came in.

"I've got to take this," Kerry told the room of about 30 students. "It Involves some of the stuff we've been talking about."

Kerry then disappeared for about 15 minutes.

"Got to keep the world moving," said UMass Chancellor Marty Meehan, who invited Kerry to speak before his political-science class
...

Despite his foreign-policy credentials, the state's senior senator spent much of his 90-minute talk focusing on domestic issues, most notably the role investing in infrastructure will play in securing the country's economic future.

Kerry lamented the fact that although solar and wind technology were first developed in the United States, many of the top alternative-energy companies now operate overseas.

He blasted Congress for letting tax incentives expire that benefited these sectors of the economy, telling the students that gridlock in the nation's capital will continue unless young people like themselves demand changes
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[L. Coyote]

1. Why can't they just accept neo-colonialism on US terms?

Too bad this guy wasn't a Peace Corp volunteer instead, or he might know a little more about the world outside his wealthy class of exploitationists.

[Mass]

2. Did you even bother reading...

Because you probably would have found you are not that far aside.

[karynnj]

6. Your jaundiced view reflects your preconcieved view.Did you even read the parts that Mass excerpted?

"Instead of military deployments, he added, “we need to be deploying far more diplomats and far more doctors and far more social structure today, in many ways, and communicating more effectively.”
... "

sure sounds like a Peace Corps and then some effort.

[saras]

3. I'm on the side of tribalism. 2 million years of success versus 200 years of world destruction.

You would think at some point, after forcing modernity on so many people at gunpoint and by kidnapping their children, that we'd maybe get that they don't WANT the damned thing.

Jerry Mander nailed the issue some 20 years ago in "In The Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations".

As he pointed out then, if you don't think technology has a political bias, then try building safe, inexpensive, recyclable, neighborhood-sized, community built and operated nuclear power plants.

[YvonneCa]

4. Really???? n/t

[karynnj]

7. The speech itself is clearly against forced modernity

It seems to me that he is speaking for working with the culture and accepting that they do not see the world as we do --- and then working with them. Given where he is and who he is, this IS someone arguing against forced modernity.

Not to mention, tribalism has NOT had 2 million years of success. Do you think the chaos of some of the remote tribal areas - try NW Pakistan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo are utopias or that the problems between the tribes are a function of the interaction with the west?

Not to mention, that the options are not black and white - a technology state with none of the culture and religion OR a nation which completely rejects any form of modernity. Even the example that you cite has plenty of counterexamples. Where nuclear power plants can't be all the things listed, there are technologies that DO have this potential. There have been articles where solar technology has provided power in remote areas to improve lives - and meets most of these criteria.

There is as much mythology of the "noble savage" as there is mythology that technology (or science) can solve all problems. Neither extreme is reasonable.

[MisterP]

5. David Harvey!

http://davidharvey.org/media/cosmopol.pdf